Russia has added International Criminal Court (ICC) President Piotr Józef Hofmański to its wanted list, months after the court accused President Vladimir Putin of the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Hofmański, his deputy, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, and Judge Bertram Schmitt are "wanted under the Criminal Code," independent Russian news outlet MediaZona reported on Monday, citing the online database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Putin and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, are accused by the ICC of the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. All ICC states are legally required to arrest Putin if he steps foot on their territory.
Russia has maintained that the ICC's arrest warrant, issued on March 17, is legally void as it isn't a member state.
Russia says it has transferred thousands of children out of Ukraine, but has maintained that the measure is to protect them during the ongoing war.
"Hofmański Józef Jozef, Polish. Wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," the Russian interior ministry said on its online database, without elaborating on the allegations against him.
Russia has issued arrest warrants for several judges, including ICC Judge Tomoko Akane, who was placed on its wanted list in late July. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan was added to the wanted list in May.
Newsweek has contacted the ICC via email for comment.
Khan said in March that his office had identified "at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children's care homes" for deportation.
The Hague-based ICC lacks its own police force and is dependent on its 123 member states to use their national law enforcement agencies to enforce its arrest warrants—something that hasn't always played out in the past. Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has two arrest warrants from the ICC dating back to 2009 and 2010. Despite having visited ICC member states since then, he remains at large.
The ICC said in May, after Khan's arrest warrant, that it was "profoundly concerned about unwarranted and unjustified coercive measures reportedly taken against ICC officials."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the ICC's arrest warrant for Putin and Lvova-Belova as a "historic decision."
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Update 9/25/23, 8:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
